


The Spirit Vigilantes

by GlaucusPacificus



Series: Zuko and Azula [2]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: !!!, (hopefully it's a bit funny), Also I apparently forgot about Suki when writing this so sorry for that as well, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Azula (Avatar) Needs Therapy, Azula (Avatar) Needs a Hug, Azula (Avatar) Redemption, Azula (Avatar)-centric, Azula and Zuko's spirit-y adventures, Badass Aang, Badass Katara (Avatar), Badass Sokka (Avatar), Badass Toph Beifong, Because there are two very traumatised children with swords, Ember Island (Avatar), Fluff and Angst, Fluff and Humor, Gaang (Avatar), Hakoda's parental instincts are activated, Happy Azula (Avatar), Happy Zuko (Avatar), I'm Sorry, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Lu Ten keeps giving them breakdowns, Mental Breakdown, Mental Health Issues, Other, Ozai (Avatar) Being a Terrible Parent, Ozai (Avatar) is an Asshole, POV Azula (Avatar), POV Zuko (Avatar), Protective Azula (Avatar), Protective Zuko (Avatar), Swords, There's a war camp, Very out of character Katara, Zuko (Avatar) Needs Therapy, Zuko (Avatar) Needs a Hug, Zuko (Avatar)-centric, Zuko is an Awkward Turtleduck, Zuko's Scar (Avatar), because there aren't two mentally unstable teenagers trying to kill the Gaang, continued but more of Zuko did an intervention in the last one
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-26
Updated: 2020-12-16
Packaged: 2021-03-09 01:02:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 18,606
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27205615
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GlaucusPacificus/pseuds/GlaucusPacificus
Summary: “Is he…dead?” Zuko asked. Azula craned her neck to look at the body Zuko was looking at.“No, he’s not.” Azula replied.“Your emphasis on the ‘he’s’ concerns me.” Zuko said. Azula smirked and Zuko shook his head, thinking that they may have to have another conversation about violent impulses and homicidal tendencies.OrAzula and Zuko alone. (But with people to help them this time.)
Relationships: Azula & Iroh (Avatar), Azula & Mai & Ty Lee & Zuko, Azula & The Gaang (Avatar), Azula & Zuko (Avatar), Iroh & Zuko (Avatar), The Gaang & Zuko (Avatar)
Series: Zuko and Azula [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1961023
Comments: 141
Kudos: 609





	1. Pathetic Turtle-Duck

**Author's Note:**

> So this is the new story in the Zuko and Azula series. I hope you enjoy it. 
> 
> There are a lot of time skips in this work so if there are any one-shots you'd like to see during those time-skips, you can suggest them in the comments :)

The ringing sound of steel clashing together filled the air as Zuko and Azula whirled around in a well-practiced dance. Azula thrust forward with her single shin gunto while Zuko hurriedly parried with his dao swords. They had been sparring for hours and both were exhausted. Eventually Zuko swung one of his swords over his head while stabbing with the other, catching his sister off guard and tripping her up.

“Submit?” Zuko asked, gasping for breath.

Azula looked disdainfully down at the sharp point that was poking dangerously near her face. “Ugh. Okay, I submit. But one day I’m going to beat you.”

“You can already beat me if you used fire bending.”

“Tell me something I don’t know, brother,” she said in a fake haughty voice but then her words took on a slightly softer quality, “That wouldn’t be fun, you still sometimes freeze up when you see fire.” 

“I hate that you have to deal with my weird panicky moments.”

“You’re ridiculous, you pathetic turtle duck. I don’t care if I have to help you with your weird panicky moments. You do the same for me.”

“I know I’ve got a bit better but I’m a firebender who sometimes panics when I see fire. How stupid is that?”

“Who cares - no one knows that we’re firebenders. You’re the one who has to train me and deal with my bullshit when my legs are refusing to cooperate, anyway.”

“Hey, that’s not bullshit, Azula,” Zuko replied in a softer tone. 

Although the siblings had grown much stronger in the month after leaving the ship, there were still some days where Azula suffered with paralyzing pains traversing over the scars that covered all of her body. It was particularly bad when it affected her legs as she simply couldn’t do anything and the feeling of helplessness and Azula did not mesh well together. Azula rolled her eyes at Zuko’s comment but a small smile wormed onto her face anyway.

The next morning, Azula and Zuko packed up their make-shift camp and moved on in their travels, wanting to resupply and find a little work in the next town. They moved every week, finding simple farm work that an 11 year old and a 13 year old could manage or similar manual labour in each new place for a couple of days to buy food and essentials and then continuing their journey. There wasn’t really a point to their wandering - more of an aimless, ongoing sibling field trip. It was the best experience they had ever had.

A few hours after they left, they reached a small village called Baoshan, nestled in the pastoral Earth Colony countryside. Azula and Zuko smiled as they saw the peaceful scenery although their smiles were slightly sad as they knew this little corner of the world wouldn’t stay untouched by the war.

And they were right.

***

Zuko and Azula were strolling around the market, picking up various non-perishable foods that would sustain them for a while when a troop of soldiers clanked into the village, casually pushing passers by while shoving their way up to one of the stalls. A captain was in the lead and grabbed the vendor of the stall by the collar of his shirt.

“Now, you listen to me. On behalf of Firelord Ozai, I’ve come to liberate you of some of that money that rightfully belongs to us.”

“No, please. I need the money to feed my wife and children,” the vendor begged.

“You won’t see your wife and children again if you don’t pay up,” the captain threatened back menacingly. 

The vendor reached into his money box and practically emptied out the whole thing until the captain was satisfied while trying not to sob with sorrow.  
Azula had to pull Zuko away so they wouldn’t face the captain’s wrath next. They went to find work on some farm on the outskirts of the village and returned back to their make-shift camp for an evening meal.

***

The same events occurred for the following days as Zuko and Azula walked through the village centre every morning to see the captain threatening a new innocent civilian. And after each day, Zuko got more and more broody (which Azula didn’t think was possible) until one night when Zuko and Azula were settled cozily around the fire. After a while of comfortable silence, Zuko, who had previously been deep in thought, glanced up.

“Az?”

“Uh huh.”

“I’m going to help the people in the village. From the Fire Nation battalion, I mean. I want to help people and everyone’s suffering and I can’t take it anymore. I’m pretty good with my Dao blades and I think I could make a difference.”

“Okay. When are we setting off?” Azula grunted, seemingly reluctant, but Zuko could see the anticipation radiating off of her. 

“You’re coming too?”

“Of course I am. You’re just begging to get yourself killed and I’m not letting you have all the fun,” Azula gave a long suffering sigh, “Plus you’re 13 and I’m even younger. We need to have each other’s backs.”

“I thought I’d have to convince you way more than that.”

“I was wondering when you were going to suggest it. You’ve been quiet all week. It’s a wonder your brain hasn’t exploded from all the thinking.”

“ You just had to ruin the moment, didn’t you?”

“Yep.”

“You’re terrifying.”

“I know.”

“Shall we set off tomorrow morning?”

“That would probably be best.”

The pair spent the rest of the evening creating a plan, ready to enact it the next morning.

***

Azula woke up before Zuko, roused, as she often was, by another nightmare. She rubbed the sleep from her eyes groggily while trying not to wake up her brother. The fire was dwindling, and Azula noticed that Zuko was lying far away from the glow of the fire, presumably to not induce nightmares about Ozai’s attack. Azula smiled sadly in his direction and looked in the pack for something to eat. Just as she was going to pull out a roll, a hand grabbed her wrist and stopped her. She looked up and realised it was Zuko who had stopped her. He must have woken up as Azula had risen. 

“We need to ration our food. We don’t know how long it’ll be until we get to stop again. We need to go.” he said, his voice sleep-filled. Zuko sat up, tied his hair up and buttoned the bag back up, swinging it over his shoulder. 

“Wait!” Azula called. Zuko saw that she was rummaging for something, but he couldn’t see what. She finally swung round, holding the two spirit masks they had bought before. 

“What...what do we need those for?” Zuko asked, raising an eyebrow. Azula looked at her brother sceptically.

“You’re a bit thick, aren’t you? We’re not going to be exactly stealthy with these ugly mugs. We need to use them for disguises, dum dum.” Azula sighed. Zuko looked mildly offended at the insult, but took the blue one from Azula’s hand and fixed it onto his face, pulling up his hood over his head so that his face was completely concealed.

***

The fire was coming in bolts as big as comets, and they’d probably hurt the same. But both Azula and Zuko had no intention of being hit by one as they moved the whole town out of the way of the fire nation soldiers. Azula was holding a toddler with tears streaming down his cheeks and Zuko had a baby in his arms, multi tasking with attempting to get the village out, holding the crying child, avoiding being hit by a blazing blot of fire and cutting down the soldiers with his swords. Neither had ever really imagined this as being their future careers. 

They had slightly miscalculated their attack and butted in just as the battalion was being relieved by a new one and a warship had been called out to check out the ‘possible revolutionary activity’. Little did they know that it was just two children dressed up as characters from their favourite story.

***

They could see the fire nation ship coming from a mile away. They looked from the huge boat to the town it was heading for and they clenched their fists. 

“Zuko, I’ll stay here and keep watch. I’ll try to hold them off.” Azula said. “You go and warn the village.” 

“Are you crazy?” Zuko asked, and Azula shrugged. “You can’t use your firebending to keep inconspicuous. You’re not gonna hold a whole fire nation army off with one sword.”

“You willing to take that bet?” Azula said with a wild grin, “Oh relax, idiot. I’m only joking - it’s a small raider ship that has been called out to address a low-level threat. It’s not going to be armed to the teeth with elite soldiers.” Before Zuko could object that this was still incredibly reckless, he had been shoved away, and Azula was ready to fight. 

Zuko pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed, before running off to warn the village, a pit of worry in his stomach for his sister. He knew that the reason he wasn’t there instead of her was because he was at least slightly better at talking to people than his sister, but that didn’t stop him from wishing he was fighting aside Azula. He looked back at his sister, then continued running to the village.

Azula somehow managed to keep calm as a 6 foot fire nation captain stepped off the boat and stood in front of her. Azula kept her right hand hovering over the hilt of her sword, but stretched her left hand out. 

“Good morning, captainl, how do you do?” she said with faux friendliness, a touch of ice in her voice. 

“Take off the mask, child. You can’t be more than 10 years old. We’ve got better things to do than scare away some children playing dress-up.” The general sneered back. Azula crossed her arms. 

“Make me then.” she said, sounding rather like a small toddler. Two guards grabbed her arms and pulled them behind her back roughly. “You know, you’re a bit stupid, aren’t you?” she said. “It’s going to take more than that to kidnap me.” And in a flash, the guards who grabbed her were on the ground, one with a hand clamped over a bleeding temple after a violent punch to the head, and the other doubled over in pain from a kick in the crotch. She turned around to the general, who was red in the face in a fighting position. “You know, I think it’s time to hire some new staff. These ones aren’t very skilled at their jobs.” she said. She pulled the sword from the scabbard. “Let’s hope that you’re better.” Azula dodged the burst of fire that flew towards her and darted over the now unconscious body of the first guard. “Oh, that’s disappointing. I guess you’re not.” 

Zuko had warned the village and helped them all leave, finding a safe place for them to hide while the army was searching. He ran back down to where he had seen Azula last to find her standing amidst (hopefully only) unconscious bodies, looking a little too proud of herself. 

“Spirits Azula, what the hell did you do?” Zuko gasped. Azula shrugged.

“I’m magic,” she said sarcastically. “What do you think happened?” Zuko looked around at the people lying on the floor. 

“Is he…dead?” Zuko asked. Azula craned her neck to look at the body Zuko was looking at. 

“No, he’s not.” Azula replied. 

“Your emphasis on the ‘he’s’ concerns me.” Zuko said. Azula smirked and Zuko shook his head, thinking that they may have to have another conversation about violent impulses and homicidal tendencies.

***


	2. FiRe SwOrD

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A new discovery is made and an old friend appears.

By the time Zuko was 14 and Azula was 12, they had found their calling. Having got their first taste of the morally-grey heroic life at Baoshan, they had become notorious vigilantes who saved people from the fire nation. They were only children but their reputation had been blown out of proportion with relatively few having seen them in the flesh for more than a few minutes and most of those who had, believed that they were adults (if a little on the short side). They rarely even spoke so Zuko’s pubescent voice cracks weren’t a giveaway and they liked to use stealth and the subtle approach when facing their missions as being brash seemed to get them into a lot more trouble (who would have thought it). Azula liked their hyperbolic status as ruthless masters of the blade. Zuko was less keen on it.

The siblings had saved more people than they could count, and they weren’t ashamed to say that they are proud of it. Of course there were a few mishaps on the way; like the time when Azula got herself kidnapped because she was being a little shit and Zuko had to go and save her, or the other time when Zuko got himself kidnapped because he was being a little shit, so Azula had to go and save him but they generally spent their time liberating Earth Colony and Kingdom citizens and defeating corruption, especially with roots leading back to the Fire Nation.

***

Life was going pretty smoothly (by their standards) when one day, an accidental discovery was made that would increase Zuko and Azula’s unpredictability and make them even more dangerous. Whoops.

“Calm down, Zuko.” Azula said, her hands out in front of her. But Zuko didn't seem to be listening. He was hyperventilating, hands shaking as he paced around the camp. Azula wasn’t sure why Zuko had suddenly become so agitated, and frankly, Zuko didn’t either. 

“What do you think I’m trying to do!?” he yelled, his voice breaking between his words. He had his swords in his hands, as he had been in the middle of practicing when it started. Azula was a little too late to recognise the warning signs, and now Zuko was shaking and Azula was a bit unsure about what to do.

“Yes, I know that. Sorry, I’m not being very helpful. I mean of course I’m not - helping people has never really been my forte which is ironic considering our reputation-” Azula rambled. 

“Azula!” Zuko snapped. 

“Sorry. What’s going on?” she asked. Zuko was breathing deliberately to try to calm down, a tactic which was sadly not very effective.

“I DON’T KNOW! Spirits, life just SUCKS! Dad burned our faces off, Lu Ten’s dead, Mum left, I’m blind, you can barely walk, we’re fugitives… What DOESN’T SUCK!”   
Zuko yelled. And Azula watched in a mixture of shock, awe and pleasure as golden flames streamed down the blades like dripping water. For a few seconds, Zuko didn’t realise that he had just set a fucking sword on fire, but when at last he looked down at the swords, he dropped them with a yelp, backing away from them and bumping into a tree behind him. He slipped down the tree into a crouch, now struggling to get any air into his lungs, his breaths coming in short shallow gasps. Azula quickly ran over to him and held him in a tight hug like Zuko had done for her when she had heard their parents arguing 3 years ago. After about 5 minutes Zuko had calmed down slightly, and Azula let go of him. He looked absolutely spent. 

“You better now?” Azula asked. Zuko nodded. 

“Yeah. Just talk. About anything. Please.” he asked, his voice croaky. So Azula talked for 15 minutes about when she used to play with Mai and Ty Lee, about the games her and Zuko had used to play, about Lu Ten and Iroh, and soon, Zuko was asleep. Azula collapsed onto her butt and rubbed her eyes. Zuko had set his swords on fire. He had set his swords on fire.

By this time, it was almost daybreak and Azula still hadn’t managed to fall asleep. Insomnia was a right bitch.  
She got up and tried to breathe normally, watching the little blue flame she clutched in her hands expand and deflate with each inhale and exhale. It calmed her enough to start training with fire - something she avoided doing with Zuko around because neither of them were sure what it was about fire that sent him into a panic so they never knew how he was going to react to flames - something that was a little unfortunate in their line of work.

Her thoughts flowed just as seamlessly as her katas did, eventually moving onto the topic of Zuko’s flames last night. That came out of his sword. How in Agni’s name did he do that?

She went over and picked her sword up and connected to her inner fire, gently manipulating and molding it inside herself. Her inner fire was fluid, she realised, just like her firebending. Azula cursed herself for not thinking of it before. All she needed was to smoothly persuade her chi to slide down the blade before releasing into fire. She would have to be careful, of course: if she released too early, then the sword would melt under her relentless blue flames and there was a huge risk of the flames becoming wild and hard to control with her chi so far removed from her body.

Azula placed her feet in a standard fire bending stance and channelled all her concentration into her chi. The end of her sword erupted in blue flames, dripping from the blade like droplets of scalding water.

Holy fuck this was cool.

Over the next month, Azula and Zuko taught themselves how to wield the swords with flames reliably and without starting a wildfire (which was fortunate for the surrounding countryside). It made Zuko a lot more comfortable with fire again and Azula could now regularly train near him without causing him to panic. Zuko would have still liked her to train further away though, but that was just because of the constant, annoying crackling that would bore into his brain every time she practiced lightning.

***

Azula and Zuko agreed that they couldn’t use their fire bending in their missions, however, which disgruntled them both but the pair didn’t want to reveal that they were firebenders to anyone so they couldn't show off their innovative skills.

It had now been a year and half since Zuko and Azula were banished and the two had gotten wind that a governor in the colonies was extorting people and of course, Zuko was adamant that they had to help. So, they got to the place the governor was said to be and of course (as was their luck: did Agni hate them or something?), it was Ukano. Mai’s dad. Of course it was. Zuko was obviously very frustrated about having to betray one of his friend’s family (Azula was less morally conflicted) but Azula calmed him down and they camped for the night near the governor’s house, setting a small fire that they fell asleep by.

“Wake up, Zuko. We should get on our way.” Azula called. Zuko groaned. 

“No.” he said, covering his face with his arms. 

“The sun is already up.” Azula said. Zuko glared at his sister. 

“What do you want me to do? Photosynthesise?” he hissed, but he sat up all the same and rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. 

“We have to go.” Azula said.

***

“Quietly.” Zuko hissed as Azula made a huge creaking sound on the wooden floor. Azula winced at the noise.

“Yep. Sorry.” she responded in a whisper, and they carried on making their way through the house, each noise they made receiving a shush from the other.

They reached the governor’s office and saw light spilling through the gap in the door. The governor was in his office, presumably working. The door was locked, but Azula was of course proficient in picking locks, which she did swiftly and almost soundlessly. The two lowered their masks onto their faces and burst through the door. 

“Spirits, who the hell are you?” The governor squealed in a very brave way (not). 

“You have to stop this.” Zuko warned, trying to make his voice sound as threatening as possible which was hard considering the teenage voice cracks that made his speech warble like a frog turkey. Luckily their reputation, terrifying spirit masks and the governor’s own cowardice did most of the work for him.

“Stop what?” the governor replied, his voice shaking with fear. 

“Extorting people and destroying the lives of innocent people.” Zuko hissed. 

“And if you don’t, you’ll be dead within two seconds. So tread. Carefully.” Azula said through gritted teeth. The governor smirked. 

“What are you going to do? You’re not even firebenders,” he almost-laughed. Zuko and Azula both pulled their swords out of their scabbards and held them in tightly clenched fists. The governors smirk vanished and he coughed nervously. “Oh. Your swords. You’ll kill me with your massive, sharp swords. Fun. Right. I’ll stop, I promise, I’ll stop.”

“Great. Thanks for cooperating.” Zuko said, and he turned to leave.

“But if you do one thing wrong, these swords will be in your throat.” Azula hissed. Zuko tugged her sleeve to pull her away from the governor and they left the room.

They tried to leave as quietly as possible, but a wrong step from Azula made the floor moan and they froze as a door opened and Mai walked out. She turned around, saw the spirits and crossed her arms. The siblings stared at their childhood friend for a moment - all of them frozen to the spot until Mai spoke, “Zuko? Azula?” she asked. Azula dropped the hand from the hilt of her sword, and Zuko physically deflated with relief. 

“How did you know it was us?” he asked. Mai raised an eyebrow. 

“You’re the only two people in the world dramatic enough to go around saving people wearing spirit masks. I knew it had to be you when I first heard the rumours” she practically laughed, relieving her face of her apathetic mask for a moment. Azula stuck her tongue out from under the mask, but no-one could see as she realised after doing it. There was an awkward silence, where they just sort of stared at each other, until Zuko finally broke the silence. 

“So...you know how you’ve always disliked your parents and hated boredom? Well, have we got a great opportunity for you!” he said in his usual awkwardness. Azula almost face-palmed. A small smile spread across Mai’s usually bored face. 

“I’ve already packed my bag.”

***

They reached back to their make-shift camp with Mai in tow, and the siblings slumped onto their bedrolls.

“Agni, I’m exhausted,” Zuko groaned, taking off his hood and mask with Azula following suit.

They turned around to see Mai abruptly stop setting down her bag and bedroll and stare at them with something akin to sympathy on her face - an expression they had never seen on her face before. Strange. 

“What?” Azula asked curiously.

“He really did a number on you, didn’t he?” Mai said, her monotone voice edges with sympathy.

“What?” Zuko asked again, clearly not catching on.

“Our faces, dummy.” Azula elbowed him in the ribs.

“Oh. Yeah, he did.”

Not another word was said as Azula started a fire and Zuko got out some meat and bread to have as their evening meal, bad memories flooding all their minds.

“So what do you two normally do? They call you the spirits don’t they?” Mai asked as they started to eat.

“Yeah,” Azula rolled her eyes, “It’s very unoriginal.”

“I like it,” Zuko protested.

“Of course you do,” Azula sighed. “Anyway, we normally keep an eye out for bands of soldiers terrorising people and go and stop them. Then sometimes we threaten people like your father to stop extorting their citizens and then sometimes we have to kill them but your father is too much of a coward to defy us.”

“Azula!” Zuko reprimanded sharply.

“No, no, she’s right,” Mai assured.

“Yeah, so we go around helping people, saving people, violently threatening people, killing people-”

“I try to stop Azula from threatening and murdering people,” Zuko interrupted.

Mai thought for a moment before saying “Okay, what can I do to help?”

They spent the rest of the night discussing past and future missions, Mai’s knife skills and the fact that Azula was worryingly pro-murder for a 12 year old (well only Zuko was worried about it, Mai and Azula were fine with it).

***


	3. Kinoshita Circus

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Another old friend appears. I wonder who it could be?

Azula grinned at the poster and Mai gave one of her rare smiles. The poster was hammered to the wall, written by hand and it read; Kinoshita Circus. 

Zuko smiled too. “Isn’t that the circus that Ty Lee’s in?” Zuko asked, walking over from packing the bags back up. 

“Yeah. Maybe we should go say hi. It’s only like 10 minutes away, and the mission can wait.” Azula suggested. 

“You both want to do that?” Zuko asked. They both nodded. “Okay. We’ll go when it’s on tonight. But no threatening the ticket seller, Azula.”

***

They sat on the hard wooden benches as Ty Lee cartwheeled onto the stage and holy crap, she was good. She had always been good at gymnastics, but this was next level. She was flying around, doing flips, handstands, cartwheels, tumbles and Azula watched in awe, realising that she had butterflies in her tummy when she saw Ty Lee’s perfect skills. When she finished the routine and ran off stage, the 3 left the tent, running round the back to catch her before she left. 

“Ty!” Azula called. Immediately, Ty Lee spun round, a look of shock splashed on her face before a wide grin took over.

“Zula!” she called back, and Azula was squeezed in a tight hug that she didn’t even try to escape from - it had been such a long time since they'd seen each other.

“You know, I’m here too.” Mai muttered but a small smile on her face all the same.

“I haven’t seen you in ages. Why are you wearing those hoods?” Ty Lee asked, directing the question at Zuko and Azula. Azula and Zuko glanced at each other, before removing the cloaks and Ty Lee instantly gasped, clamping her hands over her mouth. Her eyes travelled over the bright red lightning bolts of raised skin that marred the left side of Azula’s face, disappearing down the collar of her shirt and the red mess of scar tissue warping Zuko’s face permanently. “What did he do to you?” she almost sobbed. “I swear to Agni, I’ll kill him!”

“That won’t be necessary.” Zuko interrupted. 

“Yeah, we’re already working on doing that. Want to join us?” Azula said. Ty Lee removed her hands from her mouth and gave them a questioning look. “You may have heard of us. People call us the Spirit Vigilanties.”

“That’s you?” Ty Lee gasped again. Zuko and Azula nodded. “And you want me to come with you?”

“Yeah!” Azula said. Ty Lee wiped her eyes and smiled. 

“Yes! I’d love to!"

***

Ty Lee was chattering away excitedly to everyone as they walked along the country road to the nearest port-town, eagerly catching up on the years that they had been apart. 

“So, who knew that two banished royals were behind the Spirit Vigilantes? You must have been up to a lot in the last year or so.”

“Yeah, it’s been cool. We’ll be glad to have you and Mai, though. It has gotten a little hairy on one or two occasions,” Zuko replied cheerfully.

“Oh, don’t be so dramatic, Zu. Now shut up and hurry - we’re here now!” Azula called out from the front. 

“You know it’s kind of fitting that we’re back in Jiaju with you two - it’s the town where we literally jumped ship and decided to go at it on our own,” Zuko explained.

The four of them walked through streets until they saw a familiar market stall with the red and blue spirit masks. 

“You’re not as… distinctive as Zuko or I but you’ll still need to hide your identity.”

“Besides, it’s sort of our gimmick,” Zuko added with a grin. Azula rolled her eyes and went to purchase two more of the spirit masks.

“They’re very popular nowadays - must be because those two spirits that keep messing with the fire nation,” the vendor commented. Azula nodded awkwardly and thanked the woman before rejoining the others.

“Now what paint would you two like? We can’t all have the same colours,” Zuko asked.

The next sighting of the spirit vigilantes had two more additions - two more figures cloaked in black and with spirit masks, just like the original two: but one had a bubbly pink mask while the other had a deep purple one.

***

“Submit?” Zuko said, breathless. Azula sighed and nodded, and Zuko let the fire on his sword dwindle before pushing the sword back into the scabbard and holding out a hand to pull her up. 

“Why do I always lose?” she mumbled. 

“If you firebended, I’d be toast. Literally.” Zuko comforted. They heard pathetic applause from next to them, and they turned to see Ty Lee clapping enthusiastically, while Mai was smiling, arms crossed over her chest. 

“You two are so good! How did you do the...you know the...pew psh wow thing?” Ty Lee squealed. 

“Well...that’s certainly an interesting story that I’d rather not tell.” Zuko said, but Azula groaned.

“Zuko had a bit of a mental breakdown and he set fire to his swords but then he dropped them.” she blurted out. Zuko rolled his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose.   
“You didn't have to say it like that.” he sighed. Mai and Ty Lee just nodded, still getting used to the weird sibling dynamics present in Zuko and Azula’s relationship. 

***


	4. This Is Mildly Concerning

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Another new discovery plus a haircut.

The new additions to the Spirit Vigilantes worked well with each other and the original two. They became even more effective and by the time they had completed 3 more missions, Mai and Ty Lee had proved themselves tremendously.

One day, a few weeks after Mai and Ty Lee joined, there was another new discovery. Everyone woke up as usual but Azula seemed quieter and more distant than usual.

“Your aura seems a bit dusty and grey today, Azula,” Ty Lee commented semi-cheerfully as she picked out a roll of bread to chew on, obviously worried for her friend. Azula didn’t respond which concerned Ty Lee even further but she shut up when Zuko gave her the signal to do so. They were moving camp that day so quickly packed up and moved out.

Azula was slower than usual and Zuko also slowed down to walk beside her where Mai and Ty Lee could hear a whispered argument. They both glanced at each other, shrugged, and let their friends carry on with whatever was going on.

This changed, however, when they heard a small cry from Azula and a yelp from Zuko. They turned around just in time to see Azula’s legs collapse and Zuko try to soften the descent towards the ground.

“Azula! I told you we should have stopped!” he yelled frustratedly but with a touch of concern in his voice.

“I thought I could make it to the next camp,” Azula groaned. “Oh Agni, it’s bad,” she said, clenching her fists tightly.

“Right, on a scale from one to ten with one being pins and needles and ten being that time you collapsed into a cabbage stand, how bad is it?”

“A fucking 12. Oh Agni. It’s just as bad as when it first happened.”

“Hey Az. Look at me, yeah that’s it. You’re going to be fine. Take some deep breaths and do whatever shit you do to keep calm. I’ll carry you into the woods a bit and we’ll rest okay?” Azula nodded. “And if you vomit on me again, I will drop you.” Azula smiled a little, recognising Zuko’s effort to cheer her up.

“Okay, this is mildly concerning. What is happening?” Mai asked from behind them.

Zuko, who had picked Azula up, replied, “Leftover pain from the lightning. Sometimes it just hits and… well this happens.”

Ty Lee looked slightly horrified at this information but Zuko was too busy carrying Azula through the trees to notice. Mai and Ty Lee had no choice but to follow.  
Zuko placed Azula down gently and started unpacking their things. “We won't be able to get anywhere so we might as well just stop now,” he explained.  
Azula was now hyperventilating and shaking uncontrollably. Zuko quickly hurried over. “Az! Come on, let’s just breathe and stop spiralling. He’s not here, you know that.” 

Mai and Ty Lee were now looking extremely uncomfortable - the Azula they knew a few years ago was never vulnerable.

Azula didn’t seem like he could hear Zuko and was still breathing heavily, a glazed look in her eyes. Azula was gripping her shin gunto tightly by her side and as she started shaking more and more, the sword started to produce sparks. Not sparks of fire, like Zuko, Mai and Ty Lee would have expected, but crackles of lightning started to sheath themselves around the sword. The scent of ozone was thick in the air but Azula didn’t seem to notice. Everyone else looked at each other until Zuko broke away and tugged the sword from Azula’s hands, trying not to shock himself with the lightning. He continued to sit by his sister, telling her stories - real and fictional - until her breathing lessened and she fell asleep.

The morning after, Azula woke up well before the others, having been asleep for far longer than they had. Her limbs ached but it wasn’t that bad (or so she convinced herself) so she got to work cleaning up for everyone else, trying to stop her already fragile mental state from spiralling even more - she didn’t like how she slowed things down so it was a way of apology even though Zuko had insisted again and again that she never needed to apologise.

Yesterday had been terrifying for her - flashbacks plagued her mind and she could have sworn her father was there, staring at her with vengeful scorn.  
She thought back to the day before and remembered vaguely that something had happened with her sword. She tried to grasp onto the memory but it drifted out of reach so she continued working. Until she lit the fire. Then she remembered the lightning. Holy shit. 

Azula literally sprinted to her shin gunto and picked it up, feeling her inner fire’s chi flow down the blade. She started to separate her flow of chi into two strands, ionising the air until lightning formed, covering the sword with crackling sparks. This was the best thing Azula had ever witnessed and she started to laugh maniacally, waking up the other three.

“Azula?”

“LIGHTNING SWORD!”

“I guess she’s feeling better, then.”

***

Zuko sighed in frustration as he tied his hair up for the 3rd time in 5 minutes. 

“What’s up, Zuzu?” Azula asked as she took a bite from a sweet roll. Zuko let his hair fall to his shoulders. 

“I’m a failure. I can’t even do my own hair. My life sucks.” he groaned. Azula raised her eyebrows and grabbed the sword from her scabbard. 

“Alright Mr Angstypants, maybe you don’t have to do your hair. I’ll cut it for you.” Azula offered. Zuko glanced at the sword. 

“Okay. Just...don’t cut my head off.” he said. He turned around, and Azula sliced off his hair in one swish. She let the hair fall onto the floor and Zuko ruffled his newly cut hair. 

“Thanks.” he said. Mai raised an eyebrow. 

“You’re both so dramatic! Just use scissors! We have them right here! Oh Agni, give me strength. How did you two survive without us?”

***

Over the next couple of years, the Spirit Vigilantes became a deadly, almost mythical force. Their skills increased exponentially and so did their ruthless reputation (which was mostly down to Azula and Mai, much to Zuko’s chagrin). Nobody could have guessed that four of the Fire Nation’s most wanted fugitives were kids from the Fire Nation itself, and 2 of them were the Firelord’s own children while the other two were from noble families. It was extremely ironic. 

Zuko and Azula continued training with firebending even though they didn’t use their skills on missions while also keeping up their normal weapons training with regular, non-flaming, non-electric swords. They also incorporated earth bending and water bending moves into their fighting styles when they came across different benders in their travels, vaguely remembering some of Iroh’s lessons. Mai grew even more lethal with her knives while Ty Lee’s chi blocking and acrobatic hand-to-hand combat often saved the other three from being burnt alive by Fire Nation soldiers. 

When Azula was 14, Ty Lee was almost 15 and Mai and Zuko were 16, they heard of the Avatar’s return and realised that the war might end someday after all, but they were all too cynical - even Ty Lee - to really believe it.

***


	5. It's Smelly

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Spirits make some new friends.

The ship was far off; it’d be there the next day. That was hopefully enough time to get the villagers out before the fire nation raid began. 

“Everyone, follow Red, Blue and Purple out into the hideout. This will hopefully only last for a few hours to a day. We will provide food and water. Everyone stay calm.” Ty Lee called out. Villagers were looking scared, but Ty Lee was skilled at social interaction (a quality severely lacking in the other three), and she had managed to calm most of them down enough for them to follow her orders. Zuko, Azula and Mai led the villagers out to the nearby cave that was concealed enough to not be found by the fire nation, and Ty Lee followed close behind. 

Zuko, Azula and Mai waited outside the mouth of the cave for Ty Lee to emerge, who had been in there calming the little ones down and handing out food and water. Eventually, she surfaced and brushed off her hands. 

“Ugh. It’s so dirty in there.” she said but stopped when they heard others speaking, and they froze. Fire Nation? They waited with baited breath. And a group of 4 children came round the corner and Zuko breathed a sigh of relief. 

“Spirits, who the hell are you!” cried one of the kids, a 14 year old water tribe girl. Zuko held up his hands. 

“I could ask you the same question.” he hissed. Azula nudged her brother. 

“Are you thick, dummy? That’s the Avatar. You know, the 12 year old bald kid with an arrow on his head.” she said. “And I assume you’re his cronies.”

“Are you the Spirit Vigilanties?” another one of the kids asked - a 15 year old water tribe boy - pulling a face at the name Azula had given them. They all nodded. 

“Who?” the avatar asked. Azula rolled her eyes. 

“Oh yeah, you wouldn’t know since you were stuck as an ice lolly for 100 years.” she scoffed. The water tribe girl turned to the avatar. 

“They’re a group of people with spirit masks who go around saving people. The Spirit Vigilanties.”

“I thought we were the Spirit Pals.” Ty Lee muttered and Azula elbowed her lightly. 

“Ty, we’re trying to look cool.” she murmured back. 

“Nice to meet you…?” Zuko interrupted. 

“Oh, I’m Sokka, this is my sister, Katara, this is Aang, this is Toph.” said Sokka. Zuko didn’t realise he was smiling stupidly at the guy until Azula nudged him and he nodded. 

“Oh, sorry. I’m...Blue, this is my sister Red and these are our friends, Pink and Purple.” he replied. 

“What sort of names are those?” Toph sniped incredulously.

“Better than yours, squirt.” Azula retorted. Toph smiled slightly at the response.

“Why would we tell you our real names?” Mai said, deciding not to let Toph and Azula’s conversation devolve into an immature pissing contest. “They’re just the colour of our masks.”

“Oh… yeah, I don’t do colours.” Toph muttered and Zuko laughed slightly. 

“Great meeting you.” he said, the sentence mainly directed to Sokka, who he had already taken a liking to. 

“Great meeting you too.” Sokka replied, and the two smiled at each other for about 10 seconds, before Toph cleared her throat. 

“I don’t want to burst you two lovebirds’ bubble, but I’m pretty sure the fire nation ship is coming.” she said. Zuko and Sokka both blushed bright red, and Zuko was glad that he had the mask, before they sprung into action. 

“Okay, Red and Pink, you come with me to keep the fire nation away. Toph, you stand by the side, ready to defend if they attack. Katara, you stand at the other side, so that we have them surrounded. Sokka and Blue, you make sure you’re out of sight. Be ready with the boomerang, Sokka and Purple, you stay here and keep everyone safe. If they manage to get this far, I’m sure you’ll be able to protect them. Are we clear?” ordered Aang. 

“Who made you the boss, egghead?” Azula sneered, “You literally have no idea of our skill levels, strategies, fighting styles - what makes you think that you are qualified to tell us what to do?” 

“He’s the Avatar!” Katara argued. 

Azula was about to snap at Katara again before Zuko elbowed Azula and screamed, “Not the time Red!” And they all moved into their position. 

***

The fight had ended in an absolutely crushing victory by the Gaang and Spirits. They ended up sitting around a campfire together, celebrating their win with the sweet rolls handed to them by Aang and Sokka.

“Hey, we were thinking you could join our war camp. You’re clearly well trained and you helped us out a bunch. Thanks for helping me, Blue.” Sokka said, grinning at Zuko. Zuko felt himself blush and even though Azula couldn’t see his face, she knew he was blushing too. 

Azula’s ears perked up at the mention of the war camp. “The war camp offer sounds great.” she said but after a nudge from Zuko she carried on, “But we’ll need to talk it through.” 

Aang put up his hand. “We prefer to call it an Oppositional Working Force.” he said. 

Toph snorted. “It’s a war camp.” she said. Azula grinned at her. 

“So, what sort of things do you do?” Ty Lee asked. 

Katara shrugged. “Oh you know, just trying to save the world from the firelord.” she replied. 

“Oh, we’re doing the same thing!” Ty Lee squealed. 

Azula laughed at Ty Lee’s enthusiasm. “Yes, saving the world from the firelord, dickhead extrordinair. It’s a lovely job title.” she smiled. 

“He’s the reason the spirits created the middle finger,” Toph joined in. 

Within 15 minutes, the spirit pals and the avatar’s gang were talking like best mates, mostly thinking of insults for the Fire Lord. Aang’s gang (or the gaang, which is the name Sokka came up with), didn’t know that the spirits were from the fire nation, let alone that two of them were the firelord’s children, and the spirits knew that that was something to keep a secret. They all remained masked to preserve their identity - this wasn’t as essential for Mai and Ty Lee as they didn’t have much reason to hide their faces, but Azula and Zuko’s faces were much more...recognisable so they all unanimously decided to keep them on for the time being. It was clear that Katara was suspicious, but Sokka and Zuko were too in love with each other (as Toph and Azula put it) to be apprehensive of each other, and Toph had taken a liking to Azula’s violent and slightly scary personality, and they became friends instantly. Aang, Katara and Ty Lee became mates very quickly and Mai joined in on the conversations with Toph and Azula.

***

Everyone packed up the next morning and were led to the edge of a cliff.

“Is this where the Avatar and his friends brutally murder us?” Azula questioned as they stopped walking abruptly, a dead end one way and a drop easily a hundred meters the other. 

“Nope,” Aang said cheerfully, clearly missing the sarcasm. “This is where I call for my flying bison.”

“Your what? Actually, I’m not going to question that - that’s too much effort for this early in the morning,” Zuko groaned. Aang took out a small whistle from his pocket and blew into it sharply but it made no noise.

“Umm, Aang. I don’t think it’s working,” Ty Lee said politely.

“No, it’s just too high for us to hear. Look!” They all turned their head in time to see a flying furball appear into view.

The flying bison, who they had been told was called Appa, landed with a hard thump, sending a woosh of air towards them. Aang, Katara, Sokka and Toph hopped onto the beast without hesitation while Mai, Zuko, Ty Lee and Azula just stared up at them incredulously.

“You expect us to get on that thing?” Mai asked without enthusiasm.

“What’s wrong with Appa?” Aang looked upset.

“Nothing,” Zuko reassured hurriedly, “It’s just a bison. That flies. Hundreds of meters up in the air.”

“And it smells.”

“Red! Don’t be mean - I think Appa’s sweet,” Ty Lee exclaimed.

Aang interrupted before the bickering could continue, “Appa’s very friendly and he won’t drop us. He didn’t even drop me in the storm where I got trapped in the iceberg.”

“Uh huh. Right,” said Zuko, unconvinced, but one look at Sokka’s pleading face persuaded him. “Okay, then. Come on.”

There was a slight argument between Zuko and Ty Lee vs Mai and Azula but it worked out eventually and they all clambered onto Appa with varying degrees of enthusiasm.

Toph, Azula and Mai talked in the back with Toph clutching Sokka’s arm. He occasionally contributed to the conversation but it was mostly him and Zuko staring at each other dreamily. Ty Lee and Aang were chatting happily at the front with Katara and they all kept occupied until they arrived at a canyon where a sea of tents, soldiers and machinery came into view.

The sound of clashing steel, hundreds of voices and the general hustle and bustle of war floated up to them as they descended, Appa spiralling down onto an empty patch of ground.

“Ah, ground sweet ground,” Toph sighed with pleasure as she jumped down off of Appa, burrowing her toes into the mud.

They got off and were immediately greeted by a tall Water Tribe man who swept Sokka and Katara into a tight hug, a sight that was totally foreign to the Spirits.

“Hi Dad,” they both groaned with their faces buried in the tall man’s shoulders.

“Hiya kids, I’m glad you’re back safe and sound…” he trailed off as soon as he noticed the four masked figures standing awkwardly behind Toph and Aang. “Do you want to introduce me?”

“Oh yes,” Aang jumped in. “This is Hakoda, chief of the Southern Water Tribe and Katara and Sokka’s Dad. And this is Pink, Purple, Red and Blue who are the Spirit Vigilantes. We ran into them on the mission and they were willing to join the Oppositional Working Force.”

“War Camp,” Toph whispered behind him. 

“Okay…” Hakoda said cautiously, “If you want to follow me, I can get you sorted with a tent and how everything here works. Alright?”  
“Thank you!” chirped Ty Lee while the others mumbled their thanks.

Hakoda led them all through the camp with activity bursting at the seams. There seemed to be an array of nationalities and fighting styles in the encampment, all mingling and training together. There were Kyoshi Warriors, Southern and Northern Water Tribe warriors, Earth Kingdom Soldiers from Omashu, soldiers unspecific to any tribe, nation or kingdom doing their bit with an amalgamation of martial arts and weaponry. It was quite an amazing sight for the Spirits who had spent their lives seeing basically only one type of bender or fighter at a time - they loved it.

They eventually reached a large tent big enough for all four of them and their stuff. Hakoda told them that Aang and the others would be around later to explain how everything worked and then he was off, probably to have a conversation with the Gaang about letting weird masked strangers into the war camp.  
The Spirits breathed a sigh of relief as he left and got busy laying down their sleeping mats but not unpacking anything else in case they needed to leave in a hurry. A few minutes later, Aang, Sokka and Toph arrived and barged into their tent. “Hi! Shall we give you a tour?” Aang said excitedly. 

“Yes please,” Ty Lee responded for the group. 

The Spirits were given a tour around the camp, passing the canteen, training grounds and various landmarks as well as meeting Suki, the leader of the Kyoshi warriors who normally went on missions with the Gaang but had to stay and train some new recruits for the last one.

***

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So from here on in, the Gaang are going to be involved.  
> Just a disclaimer that I do like Katara but she's going to seem a bit bitchy and unlikable in my story because I feel like she'd be the character who'd most likely rub The Spirits up the wrong way. I think that her and Azula are very similar and they have many parallels but in this AU, I just think that they wouldn't get along.  
> Also there is a severe lack of Suki in the entire trilogy. I've finished writing it now but I've just realised that there is only one scene with her in so I apologise for that as well.


	6. Responsible Adults

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ideologies clash in the camp.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please tell me if this chapter feels weird, I've been trying to show conflict realistically but :/

The next morning, Zuko and Azula woke up with the sun and trained in the woods at the edge of the canyon with fire and lightning for a bit until breakfast was served in the canteen where they met with Mai and Ty Lee. They ate by themselves in their tent and then went and sat under a tree for a bit until Sokka approached with a broad smile plastered on his face.

“Hey, so we were about to have a benders vs non-benders match - would you like to join?”

“Yes!” they all shouted together, tired of their inactivity as they were used to moving between places to camp during the day a lot of the time.

Sokka was slightly taken aback by their urge for violence but decided it would help. Hopefully. 

They walked to the training ground where Toph, Katara, Aang, an old Water Tribe man and an earth kingdom boy with long hair and the beginnings of a moustache and goatee were waiting. “This is Master Pakku and Haru and they have agreed to train with us to make the teams fair,” Sokka explained. “The rules are that once you are forced over the line, you’re out and try to avoid wounding anyone seriously. I’m looking at you, Toph.”

“And I’m looking at you, Red,” Zuko shot Azula a pointed look. 

Hakoda was refereeing and shouted “Go!” once the two teams were in position. 

Two streams of water simultaneously shot across the space between them from Master Pakku and Katara which they all seamlessly dodged. Mai and Sokka stayed at the back with the throwing knives and boomerang for long range attacks while Ty Lee, Zuko and Azula went in for close range attacks that benders couldn’t easily defend. Ty Lee had already chi blocked Master Pakku in the first thirty seconds. Zuko was thrusting and stabbing at Aang (who was only allowed to use airbending) and Azula had closed in on Katara who was unprepared for a pointy metal stick jabbing in her face. Mai and Sokka were keeping Haru and Toph busy with knives and the boomerang. Eventually, Haru, Pakku and Aang - thanks to him having to avoid Sokka’s boomerang, one of Mai’s knives and Zuko’s sword at the same time - were all out, with only Katara and Toph left against the five non-benders. 

The spectacle of an equal number of benders and non-benders fighting, with the non-benders winning, quickly drew a crowd. Katara and Toph were sending out vicious attacks and a water whip took out Sokka and Mai in one fell swoop. Ty Lee distracted Toph while Zuko and Azula took Katara down. Katara wasn’t able to dodge quickly enough after she sent the water whip out so had to jump out of bounds to avoid the three swords swinging towards her. This just left Toph. Ty Lee managed to half chi block Toph so she had only one side of her body working but the acrobat was thrown out by a pillar of rock before she could finish the job. Azula moved in, distracting Toph, which meant she was also thrown out, but allowed Zuko to kick the earthbender out, leading to a non-bender victory. There was a large cheer from the gathered crowd as the teams stood up and dusted themselves off.

“Well done!” Hakoda slapped Sokka on the back in an affectionate gesture. “And Katara,” he shouted to his daughter, who was standing a little apart from them. Zuko and Azula tensed, waiting for Katara to be punished for losing to her brother but quite the opposite happened. “That was brilliant water bending! You’ve improved so much since you left the South Pole!”

“Thanks Dad!”  
The sight of a healthy father-child relationship was completely foreign to Zuko and Azula. They had barely witnessed Iroh and Lu Ten interact when they were still at the palace since they were often busy with their duties so they spent the time they both had free with just the two of them. This meant that they never had any examples of good parenting growing up. Azula and Zuko glanced at each other and quickly compartmentalised any thoughts or feelings that had a trace of their father in them.

***

So the Spirits fell into a routine - Zuko and Azula rose early and went to train before getting breakfast with Mai and Ty Lee and eating in their tent so no one saw them without the masks. They then trained and did some other chores around camp before going to bed. It was boring but a lot less chaotic than their usual days.   
They hadn’t been on a mission yet - the Fire Nation had been unusually quiet but that all changed one afternoon when the Gaang were having lunch together outside with the Spirits (who had already had theirs). 

Hakoda walked briskly up to them, “There’s reports of Fire Nation activity near Hongcun. Can you go and have a look? And this time, bring at least one responsible adult with you - what about a couple of the Spirits?”

“You think we’re what?” Zuko asked. Hakoda turned round to face four spirit masks looking up at him which was a bit unnerving.  
“I think he said responsible adults,” Mai repeated. All four of them burst into laughter. The Gaang also giggled a little while Hakoda just stared at them. “What’s so funny?” he asked.

“We aren’t adults and we’re definitely not responsible,” Ty Lee giggled.

"Yeah, Dad. How could you think they were adults. Seriously?" Sokka said, laughing

“How old are you, out of interest?” Katara questioned curiously.

“Blue’s the oldest - he’s 16 and Purple’s a few months younger. I’m 15 in a few weeks and Red’s barely 14.”

“What? The Spirits have been around for years, though.” Hakoda said disbelievingly.

“Me and Purple can show you if you want,” Ty Lee suggested, taking her mask off with Mai doing the same thing after looking at the other two for confirmation. 

“Oh… so that’s what you look like,” Sokka said, unsure of how he was supposed to react. “How long have you been doing this whole fighting the Fire Nation thing then?” 

“I was 13 and Red was 11. Those two joined a year later, I think.”

“But the rumours everyone’s been telling me about you - you’ve been… killing people since your first appearance,” Aang said, a look of distress on his face. “How do you cope with all those lives lost?”

“It’s a war. What are we supposed to do? Let them live to bully and oppress people again after we’ve gone?” Mai said.

“There’s got to be a better way, though,” Katara joined in.

“Look, I’m the least pro-murder out of us four-,” Zuko started.

“What about Pink? Surely you’re more pro-murder than her,” Sokka said skeptically.

“Nope!” Ty Lee said in a weirdly chirpy voice for the subject matter. “You can’t let the Fire Nation win - not after how many people Ozai has hurt. Especially those two,” she pointed at Azula and Zuko who had tensed for a moment. Toph looked like she was about to ask what Ty Lee meant by that by Zuko jumped back in.

“As I was saying,” Zuko started again, “Out of us four, I’m the least pro murder and I try to save people’s lives as much as possible but it’s hard to win a war without breaking a few racoon crow eggs.” He teasingly smiled at Azula even though it was barely visible through the mask, knowing how much she hated metaphors, and especially that one in particular. Azula rolled her eyes.

“Are you referring to whole human lives as ‘a few racoon crow eggs’,” Katara said with mild disgust.

“Are you suggesting that we shouldn’t kill anyone in order to uphold a few moral ‘rules’ which are all relative and only a set of social constructs while thousands are dying due to the same people you won’t kill and, if you won’t kill them, will do whatever crime they’ve committed again and again?” Azula said sharply. “We have seen a lot of the world and a lot of shit in that world, human sprinkler, and we’ve learnt that lives cannot be sacrificed pointlessly,” she paused for a moment and looked at Zuko. She knew they were thinking of the same things: Lu Ten’s pointless sacrifice and the 41st Division who Zuko had attempted to save before they were both burnt by Ozai. “But sometimes you’ve got to suck it up and do shit you’d rather not do to save the innocent lives rather than the ones on the wrong side of the battle.”

“A lot of the soldiers are just following orders, though,” Aang said, looking even more distressed than he did before. “It’s not their fault for being misguided by the Fire Nation.”

“I don’t know about you Aang,” Azula argued back, “But I’d rather kill that soldier who’s following orders than just let him raid a whole town with innocent people in with his unit. I'd rather kill him than watch him kill children, the sick, the elderly. Everyone.” 

“There are prisons. Can’t we just lock them up?” Katara said.

“Again: it’s a war. Where are these prisons? How are we going to feed the prisoners and keep them in humane conditions? How are we going to keep an entire army in a prison? How are we going to capture them without injuring them? How are we going to look after them when they’re injur-” Mai scoffed, listing all the reasons a prison system wouldn’t work, before Katara interrupted.

“Yes, yes, I get it. I realised it wouldn’t work as soon as I said it.”

“It goes against all the monk’s teachings, though. They taught us that pacifism was the right way to live. I don’t even eat meat!”

“Yeah, you’re missing out,” Sokka muttered under his breath. Aang pretended not to hear him.

“Sometimes you’ve got to adapt. The world you knew 100 years ago isn’t the world now. Pacifism worked 100 years ago. It doesn’t work now that you’re the Avatar and expected to end the 100 years war. I don’t think it’s right that you, a 12 year old, has this much pressure on you,” Azula looked down sadly, remembering the crushing pressure that her father almost broke her with just a few years ago. “But it’s reality and there’s nothing that you can do to change it. I’m sorry Aang.” After Azula’s final statement, Aang stalked off to get ready for the mission, feeling very conflicted and everyone awkwardly got their own things together before climbing onto Appa. 

It was going to be a long journey.

***


	7. Dragon of the West

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's time for Iroh to appear again.

Zuko sat on the grass in front of Azula, playing a pretty boring game of catch with a scrunched up piece of paper while Mai sat to the side, sharpening one of her knives. Ty Lee was cartwheeling around like an overexcited child. Mai and Ty Lee had been walking around camp without their masks recently, banking on the fact that Iroh wouldn’t recognise them after years apart and not much interaction with him in the first place.

Sokka suddenly ran up to them, “Guess what, guess what, guess what?” he asked. Zuko looked up from the ground at him. 

“The Firelord’s brother has come to teach Aang firebending!” Sokka exclaimed. Thankfully, Azula and Zuko were wearing masks, because if they weren’t, Sokka would have seen the immense look of dread on their faces. 

“Oh...that’s great!” Zuko said, with all the cheer he could muster. “Hey, could you just excuse us for a sec? We need to...do something.” Sokka shrugged and walked away. 

“Oh, very subtle Zuko, we totally don’t seem suspicious now.” Azula hissed. 

“You two can fight later. What’s the plan? Are you going to tell Iroh who you are?” Mai asked. Zuko shook his head. 

“Too risky. We don’t need him to know yet. We might tell him later, but there’s too big of a chance he’ll let it slip and everyone will hate us,” he said. 

“Isn’t he still loyal to the fire nation?” Mai asked. 

“He’s the dragon of the west. If he was going to capture the avatar, the avatar wouldn’t be alive right now.” Azula responded. Mai shrugged. 

“Can we see him? I haven’t seen him in ages!” Ty Lee squealed. Azula rolled her eyes but smiled.

“He doesn’t know who you are. You can’t just run up and hug him.” she sighed. Ty Lee looked down trodden but smiled still. “We should probably go and check that everything’s fine. I don’t want Toph to have already thrown a rock at him.

***

Iroh stood in front of them, talking to Aang and Katara and Zuko and Azula felt sick. They stood far away from the rest, near to the trees, tears starting to feel Zuko’s eyes.

“Go?” he asked. 

“Go.” Azula confirmed. And they started to walk briskly away but before they could move a decent distance they heard Iroh’s voice and they froze.

“Oh! And who are these people?” Iroh asked. Mai and Ty Lee moved to stand almost protectively next to Zuko and Azula. 

“These are the Spirit Vigilanties; Blue, Red, Pink and Purple.” Aang introduced. Zuko and Azula awkwardly waved at their uncle. “Iroh, sir? Can we start my training right away?”

“Of course, Avatar.” 

“Please, just call me Aang.”

Zuko sat with his chin resting on his knees under the tree beside Sokka, and Azula cross-legged on the grass next to Ty Lee, while Mai watched Iroh and Aang’s training. 

“Great job, Avatar.” Iroh congratulated as they both sat down for a break. 

“Thanks. I was just wondering if you will at any point teach me lightning bending? I've heard about it and it sounds unstoppable!” Aang asked. Ty Lee heard Azula inhale sharply. 

“Lightning bending is very dangerous and very difficult to master. It normally takes several decades to develop the skill so probably not before you have to defeat my brother but I can teach you a few techniques to help you defend against it. If you are struck by it, you will almost certainly die.” Iroh replied. 

“Is that so?” Mai said, pointedly looking at Azula. 

Iroh nodded. “I knew one girl who survived; my niece.” he began. Azula and Zuko visibly tensed. “She was struck when she was a fairly small child.”

“How come? In what situation could a child be hit by lightning?” Katara asked. Azula glared at her from under her mask - of course they were going to have to hear about this.

“It’s a...long story.” Iroh said. 

“We have a while.” Katara said. “So, what happened?” The Spirits’ hearts clenched - of course they were going to have to relive this traumatic event.

“My niece, Azula, was attending the war meetings with her father, and I invited my 13 year old nephew, Zuko along as well. Zuko had too much of a kind heart for politics and objected to one of the plans a General had put forward in a very insulting manner. The plan involved sacrificing hundreds of soldiers and Zuko had a great moral objection, so he was challenged to an Agni Kai. Zuko thought he’d be fighting the general, however, it turned out that he’d be fighting his own father: the firelord. Zuko was struck by fire in the eye - half his face was burnt off and Azula, who was only 11 at the time, shouted at the firelord, insulting his honour in front of the crowd. It was when I should have intervened but I was too much of a coward, and the two began to fight. Azula managed to fight for a while, a better fighter than any 11 year old had the right to be. She had blue flames - a colour of fire that no one has seen for hundreds of years, but in desperation, her father struck her with lightning. It was touch and go for a while but she lived. I think she may have instinctively redirected some of the lightning so not much of it passed through her heart or something similar.”

There was a shocked silence but Sokka went and broke it: “Wait, so what happened to them afterwards?” 

“They were banished, but after a few months of recovery, they just disappeared. Haven’t seen them since.” Iroh explained. 

“How do you know they’re okay? Surely that would be cause for concern?” Katara asked. Iroh half smiled. 

“Some of my firebending scrolls were missing so they had planned to leave. And let’s just say that anyone trying to kidnap my niece would not live to tell the tale.”

Azula glanced around and realised that Zuko had gone. Her heart was beating hard already, blood pounding in her ears, and she really needed her brother right now. She stood up and sprinted into the woods as soon as the attention was back on Aang and his training.

“Blue?” she yelled, not using Zuko’s real name in case the Gaang could hear her shout. She heard a twig snap from behind a tree and she ducked round. She was met with the sight of Zuko shaking, his head in his arms, hugging his knees to his chest. She bent down and sat next to him, burying her face into Zuko’s shoulder. 

Mai stood up soon after the siblings left and she pulled Ty Lee after her. 

“What’s going on?” Ty Lee asked as they ran. They heard rustling and they stopped dead in their tracks. Azula and Zuko were sitting under a tree, Zuko with an arm around his sister and their masks discarded on the floor nearby. The siblings were staring blankly into the distance, reminiscing of past times where their father hadn't clouded their worldview and where Lu Ten was alive and where their mother hadn’t disappeared. Ty Lee and Mai didn’t know how to comfort them: this was something they would never be able help with - they needed comfort from each other. So, they sat cross legged in front of the other two, listening to the river in the background, the birds chirping quietly and the rustle of the leaves in the wind until the sunset. 

***


	8. Secretive Pillocks

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's the big reveal.

“Why don’t you take off your mask?” Sokka asked Zuko suddenly one day. “Pink and Purple do”. Zuko froze and the gears in his brain whirred like crazy as he tried to think of an excuse. 

“It’s best that I don’t….for your own good.” he said. Azula snorted. 

“Zuko, no, that just sounds like you’re going to kill him.” she said. 

“How do we know we can trust you if you don’t show your faces?” Katara asked, joining in the conversation.

“If we wanted to kill you, you’d have already been thrown off a cliff after having been strangled with blood streaming from your eyes.” Azula said. 

Ty Lee sighed. “The whole point of this is to make you seem less like you’re going to kill them in their sleep. Calm down.” she said. 

Azula shrugged. “Just saying.” she murmured. 

“Seriously, what do you have to hide?” Katara asked. Zuko sighed. 

“Look, we can have our secrets. We just...don’t want to talk about it.” he said awkwardly. 

“Just take them off! I’ll trust you more if we see your faces.” Sokka asked. 

“Please...just leave us alone.” Zuko begged. Azula could see he was getting agitated. 

“Look, it’s none of your business. We’re helping you; you should see that, so what does it matter whether you can or can’t see our faces.” Azula hissed. 

“Oh, shut up you secretive pillock.” Katara yelled. Toph raised her eyebrows. 

“I don’t think that insult has as much weight as you think it has, Katara.” she said. Katara glared at her, then realised that Toph wouldn’t see it. 

“I would insult you better, but I don’t have many personal details about you which is what we’re arguing about!” she yelled. 

“Ooh, burn.” Toph sneered sarcastically. 

“Shut up Toph!” Katara hissed back. 

“Hey guys, this stress isn’t good for your skin.” Ty Lee interrupted. Katara laughed bitterly. 

“Yeah, as if you know about what is and what isn’t good for your skin. You can’t even count to 3, you moron.” she spat. Azula launched herself at Katara to attack, but Zuko and Mai caught her by the elbows and dragged her back. 

“Just you wait until you’re being barbecued alive by my flames.” Azula hissed. Katara raised her eyebrows. 

“What the fu--” 

“Sorry, I hate to interrupt a great fight, but I’m pretty sure that the Fire Nation are coming. Or just some other random army, but I’m pretty sure it’s the Fire Nation.” Toph called. Katara swung round as Aang burst into the clearing they were situated in. 

“Okay, Red, Toph and I will be at the front fighting them off. Pink and Sokka, you be round the side and take them down from there, and Purple, try to get inside and take them down from there.”

“Got it.” Mai grinned, twirling her knives in her hands and running off. 

“Blue, Katara, you all get everyone not capable of fighting to safety. The top of the hill should be a good place. Everyone got it?” Aang asked. They all nodded and sprung into action. Sokka caught Zuko’s shoulder before they all left. 

“Good luck,” he said. 

Zuko nodded. “You too.” And they left.

***

The fight was not going well. They had been caught completely by surprise so no one was in armour and few had weapons. 

The battle raged around Azula - steel meeting steel but cries of agony signalled the fact that steel was also meeting flesh. A lot. Screams cut through the air as she stabbed, parried and thrusted but it wasn’t enough. The first wave of Fire Nation soon retreated and according to Toph, they were joining up with a second, larger wave. Azula looked around desperately, trying to form a plan or at least a vague idea on how to turn the tide of the battle. Then she spotted it. There was a part of the canyon with a deep crack running down the side of it - she knew what she had to do.

“Zu, get everyone behind me in this section of the canyon. I can handle it - I’ve got an idea.”

“What? Az, don’t,” he said warningly, panic laced in his voice but then he saw his sister's stern, stubborn expression and realised he wouldn’t be able to persuade her not to do something reckless. “Just be safe.”

Azula nodded and ran forward. Zuko ran in the opposite direction and called for the Gaang and Mai and Ty Lee. “We’ve got to evacuate everyone from this bit of the canyon.”

“What? Why?” Sokka said suspiciously. 

“Red’s going to do something and we need to be far away.”

“That sounds like a bad idea - they’re going to slaughter her!” Aang said. 

“Just trust her, please,” he begged.

Aang looked conflicted for a moment before sighing and he used his airbending as a megaphone, ordering everyone to retreat about 50 meters. The crowd looked on with curiosity and dread as the small figure of Azula faced off against the Fire Nation Army swiftly approaching. 

They watched as she dropped her sword with a clatter. 

“What is she doing?” Katara asked accusingly.

“She’s so over dramatic,” Mai sighed but with a touch of concern in her voice.

They watched as she settled into what was quite clearly an earthbending stance.

“Is she an earthbender now?” Toph said excitedly wriggling her toes as she tracked the vibrations in the earth, “Maybe I can teach her metal bending!”

“What the hell is she doing?” Hakoda asked worriedly.

“Just wait. This is going to be awesome.” Zuko replied, his words proud but strained.

They watched as Azula took a deep breath and lifted her arms up, a wave of blue flames escaping her in torrents, forming a massive wall of fire. It was spectacular - fire so blue and vivid, it could be compared to the sea. It looked like it flowed out of her - an extension of herself in massive proportions. It was filled with energy, chi bursting at the seams. The wall was formed at the side of the canyon, almost touching the steep slope of the canyon. It continued to stay up as she quickly maneuvered her feet into another stance and moved her arms around her in a captivating pattern. Suddenly lightning erupted out of her pointed fingers in a large jagged pattern, filling the canyon with electricity. The blast collided the fire where the blue wall met the part of the canyon with a deep crack engraved into the sides. A large explosion echoed off the walls, forcing everyone to cover their ears. The explosion threw Azula back and she bounced along the ground like a rag doll, finally stopping after she wacked the back of her head on a rock. With the flames and lightning now dispersed, they could see the devastation left behind. There had been a rockfall, injuring many and making the canyon almost impassable. Most of the dead had been burnt alive but some bodies seemed to still be moving and groaning in agony. The rest seemed to be waiting for orders from their commanders and they eventually retreated. 

Everyone was too shocked to make any noise at all but Zuko, Mai and Ty Lee raced towards the limp body of Azula that was vaguely twitching in the distance. When they reached her, she was trying to stand up. “Oh Agni that hurt,” she groaned.

“Az!” Zuko yelled with relief, “That was very, very, very reckless but I am so proud. That was amazing.”

“Didn’t feel like it,” she grumbled in response, swaying on her feet after being helped up by Mai and Ty Lee.

The four of them made their way back to the crowd of astonished onlookers, Mai and Zuko trying not to let Azula fall over as she staggered towards everyone.

“What the fuck was that?” Katara yelled, “You’re a firebender!”

“Yep. He is too,” Azula replied apathetically, pointing at Zuko.”

“What?” she squealed indignantly..

Katara’s shouts were broken up, however, by an immediate hush that fell over everyone as Iroh made his way to the group, shoving past people in the crowd which was most unlike the genial old man they had come to know.

He paused for a second, looking at the two masked figures with a tear in his eye. “You know, I’ve only ever known of one bender capable of bending blue flames. She was one of the bravest young women that I have ever met and I failed her. I didn’t look out for her or her brother well enough,” Iroh said somberly. “I hope you can forgive me, my niece and my nephew. Where have you been all this time?”

They all froze. It was like somebody had stopped the world from turning. Silence. Zuko and Azula looked at each other. “Uhh… hi Uncle,” Zuko finally responded, his   
voice cracking with nerves. There was an awkward pause while the information that two of the mysterious (and terrifying) Spirit Vigilantes were Iroh’s niece and nephew.

“So I guess we have got some explaining to do,” Azula said, “Which Zuko will explain right now.”

“What? No I won’t! Azula will,” Zuko squeaked.

“Oh for fucks sake,” Mai said, stopping the squabbling. “They don’t have to explain anything to you, you fucking dick.”

“Purple! Did you just insult general Iroh?” Sokka exclaimed, affronted by Mai’s harsh words.

“Yes, I did. And he deserves it.” 

“I agree,” Ty Lee said emphatically, frowning disapprovingly at Iroh, stunning everyone. What had Iroh done to make the bubbly pink-clad girl show that much negative emotion? “In the Fire Nation, you would still be a celebrated war hero if it weren’t for you abandoning the Siege of Ba Sing Se. And you retreated for the wrong reasons - you didn’t do it because you realised the Fire Nation was wrong, you did it because you lost your son! So what? How many sons did you send out to die before yours did? How many daughters, brothers, sisters, mothers and fathers did people have to have funerals for before you realised the error of your ways?”

Mai continued the fiery tirade, “You may have repented now and you may have become a better person but these two do not need to explain anything to you! You showed blatant favouritism and never made an effort - your son was more of a parental figure to Azula than anyone else and he was only twenty when he died. Zuko and Azula don’t owe you anything.” 

A deathly silence fell over everyone while Zuko and Azula looked at their friends thankfully and although they couldn’t see their expressions, they got the gist.   
Iroh shook his head slightly before saying, “You are absolutely right. You’re Mai I’m guessing - their old childhood friend? And that must be Ty Lee?” Mai and Ty Lee nodded their heads. “Yes, you are right. I have committed terrible atrocities in fairly recent years and it is only now, late in life, that I’m trying to redeem myself. You don’t owe me anything at all, children. I would just like to say that I am so proud of you for choosing the right path by yourselves - you could have easily become swallowed by bitterness and darkness but you had each other and avoided that path. I am so, so sorry that I failed you but I would like to be here for you now, if you would let me?”

“Umm shall we move somewhere a little more private?” Zuko said, gesturing to the rest of the camp who were watching agawk. They moved away with the Gaang at a respectable enough distance so they could talk more or less privately (Azula was sure that they were eavesdropping, though) while everyone else dispersed to go and fortify the camp to be more prepared if another attack came. “I can’t promise you anything, Uncle but I can see that you’re on this side of the war and if you’re willing to defeat Ozai, I think I can try and start to not be angry at you - though I definitely still am,” Zuko said after glancing at Azula who nodded her head.

“As long as you don’t leave me with the bitchlord as my main parental figure again, we’re fine as possible. But no more talking about feelings,” Azula tried to say her statement sharply but it was somewhat undermined by the fact that she was still swaying on her feet slightly. Iroh nodded his thanks and walked away.

There was another awkward silence before Sokka approached them. “Hey, sorry if I’m, you know, spoiling the moment but this means that you’re the firelord’s kids, right?.” Sokka pointed out but then he paused suddenly, a thoughtful look on his face. “But I guess that doesn’t matter now. You saved us.”

“Wait, no, doesn’t anyone else have questions? Why did you move to the good side? Did you move to the good side? Are you spying on us? Why did you hide your identity?” Katara interrogated furiously. 

“Errm, Katara? They would have killed us both by now if they wanted to. We’d be dead with our heads on spikes.” Toph said. 

“And Red...Azula just obliterated an entire fire nation army for us. If they wanted us dead, she would have just let them kill us. Stop being so damn suspicious.” Sokka joined in. 

"Hang on - who are you two, then. Iroh said that you were childhood friends?"

"I'm Mai. I joined them when they came to threaten my dad."

"I'm Ty Lee, I joined when they came to see me at the circus!"

"That somehow makes perfect sense," Sokka muttered.

“Does that mean we can see your faces now,” Toph asked, a cheeky smile on her face.

“You can’t even see them, Mud Goblin,” Azula complained, “And remember what Iroh told all of you? They’re not exactly a pretty sight.” Zuko nodded in agreement.

“Well that’s not true. You’ve got a very pretty face, Zula, and Zuko’s isn’t that repulsive,” Ty Lee said. 

Azula blushed slightly (thank Agni no one could see it under the mask) and Zuko started to nod in agreement again but then realised what Ty Lee had said. “Oi!”

“Come on, just take the masks off. It will be a lot easier and none of us will judge,” Aang said, a pleading look on his face.

Zuko couldn’t resist those puppy-dog eyes so he turned to Azula. “Azu?”

“Oh alright then.”

They both looked at each other then lowered their hoods and took off their masks. There was a small ripple of gasps as they saw the damage that the Firelord had inflicted upon his own children. Azula and Zuko stood there very uncomfortably and very tense, waiting for them to cry out in disgust or mock them. They could see the melted bits of flesh that made up Zuko’s ear and eye, permanently disfiguring and disabling him. They could see the bright red, raied lines fused onto Azula’s face and disappeared down her collar as if someone had angrily scribbled out a portrait.

“You look a lot younger than I thought you would,” Aang said.

“I can definitely see why you’re on our side now,” Katara said, sympathetically looking at the siblings who shifted awkwardly under her gaze.

“You look like Ozai,” Sokka said, pointing at Zuko. “But you don’t really,” he continued, gesturing to Azula.

Azula scowled slightly while Zuko responded, warily looking at his sister, “She’s the spitting image of our mother but I would advise you not to bring that up unless you want to get burned.” Sokka immediately backed away a couple of steps.

“Well you both look like I thought you would,” Toph joked smugly, trying to lighten the mood.

Zuko smiled at Sokka as everyone went their separate ways. “Hey there. I’m Zuko.” Zuko said, like they were meeting for the first time. 

Sokka grinned. “Hello, Zuko. I’m Sokka.”

“You did great today, Sokka.” Zuko said. 

Sokka smiled at the other. “You didn't do so bad yourself, Zuko.” he said. “And I like that we can see your face now. Sorry for earlier. We were...insensitive.”

“I don’t blame you. We were being pretty suspicious, but I guess you see why we wanted to keep our faces a secret.”

“Yeah. But, I don’t mind your face.” Sokka said, but then he immediately clapped a hand over his mouth. “Wait, sorry, that came out wrong. I just...you’re just….I like your face? No, that’s worse.”

“It’s...it’s fine. I...like your face too? Nope, that’s even weirder.” Zuko laughed. 

“I don’t mind.” Sokka smiled and he pulled Zuko into a big hug. “This doesn’t change anything.”

“Just kiss already!” Toph called from the corner with Azula laughing behind her. 

Sokka and Zuko looked over. “Az? Are you bleeding?” Zuko asked, seeing a few splotches of dark red on her clothes that had been hidden by its black colour and noticing the slightly pale and fatigued look on her face.

“Oh shit.”

“Can someone get Katara?” Sokka shouted.

***

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this one was really hard to get right because of the tone. The original version had a big tearful reunion between Zuko, Azula and Iroh but that didn't make an sense since Iroh hadn't been a perfect person towards them in the and I definitely feel that my version of Mai and Ty Lee would defend their friends.   
> Anyway, please give me some feedback and I hope you enjoyed it!


	9. Earth Gremlin

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What happens now that everyone knows who they are?

The Spirits were now invited to the closer meetings, where the Avatar’s gaang tried to strategise the best way to take the firelord down. Azula felt very at home there, but Zuko not so much. Considering that the last time he was in a war meeting, he ended up getting half his face burned off, it was no surprise that he wasn’t a big fan of those meetings, and he was afraid of speaking up in case he made a mistake and ended up almost dying again.

“Right, so when we manage to kill Ozai,” Azula began, “Who will run the fire nation?”

“Wait, you actually want to kill your dad?” Katara exclaimed. Azula nodded and Zuko shrugged. 

“Absolutely, Human Sprinkler.” Azula said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

“I wouldn’t be completely opposed to the idea.” Zuko added. 

Katara looked absolutely baffled. “He’s your dad though.” 

“Well, let’s face it, he wasn’t a very good one was he.” Zuko sighed. “He hated my guts and manipulated and hurt Azula. And then, you know… did this to us,” he gestured to his face. Azula nodded, agreeing with him.

“Still though, killing him is taking it a little bit far isn’t it?” Katara asked. 

“Is it, though?” Azula, Mai and Toph all said simultaneously. 

“I don’t want to kill him,” Aang said, looking distressed. “There must be another way.”

“Your funeral. Literally,” Azula said.

“Az!” Zuko shouted. 

Ty Lee lightly hit her on the arm. “That was rude.” 

Mai laughed.

“I’m sorry,” she said, being not sorry at all. “I just don’t think there’s another option.”

“I’m not going to kill anyone and that’s final. It goes against all of the teachings that were ever told to me by the monks.”

“You’ll get yourself fried. If you don’t kill him, he’ll kill you. Don’t think he’ll show compassion or any human empathy - he’s incapable of it,” Zuko said emphatically, his concern for Aang clear in his words.

“Everyone is capable of empathy,” Aang protested.

“I never took you for being naive - weirdly optimistic like Ty Lee - but not naive,” Mai said, shaking her head. “Look at their faces,” she said pointing at Zuko and Azula who were standing side-by-side, looking mildly offended, “And tell me that Ozai has empathy. He did that to his own children - Azula was even younger than you are now. He won’t show mercy.”

“Okay, you’ve made your point but that doesn’t change my mind. I am not taking another person’s life!”

Before Azula, Mai, Toph or anyone else could argue back, Iroh cut in, “We’ll continue this conversation another day but shall we carry on with the meeting now.” 

“Okay - back on track. Who’s going to rule the fire nation? We can’t do it because, if I’m being honest, Zuko’s really not suited for court politics.” Azula said. 

“And Azula would have issues trusting her advisers. Plus we don't actually want to rule the nation,” Zuko continued. 

“And you’re both feral teenagers who missed out on 3 years political training and shudder every time you think of the palace,” Mai said, deadpan, stating the obvious reasons why it would be best that one of them didn’t take over the Firelord’s position.

Katara crossed her arms, thinking. “Iroh?” she suggested. “He could do it.” All the spirit vigilanties, including Iroh burst into laughter at this, even Mai. 

“Oh yeah, let’s just let the Dragon of the West be firelord. That sounds like the best idea ever. It totally won’t upset half the world and cause massive political ramifications in terms of bringing the war to a close,” Mai said sarcastically. Iroh nodded.

“What about the fire sages? They could preside over a council until a democracy can be set up.” Azula suggested, beginning to get bored. Everyone in the room looked towards Iroh. 

“That sounds like a great idea, Azula.”

Azula felt the swell of something indescribable rise up inside of her: she finally got the approval of a parental figure.

***

One morning Azula and Zuko decided to spar in the main training grounds now that they could showcase their full talents where the Gaang plus Iroh and Hakoda were sitting and eating. 

“No lightning - I don’t want to get an electric shock today and no fire from your free hand - the last blister you gave me lasted for ages,” Zuko complained.

“Oh poor baby Zuzu - can’t you handle some gentle sparring?” Azula teased, a wide grin on her face.

“Shut up Azula - you’re the one who cheats all the time.”

“I don’t cheat. I just win and you’re a sore loser.”

“That’s not true! You-”

“Oh stop arguing, you two, and start fighting with swords - that’s much more exciting,” Sokka shouted from the sidelines.

Fire instantly erupted from both their blades, slicing smoothly through the air in a colourful pattern of blue and red. They were both training in their spirit masks, not used to fighting without them, which added to the mysterious allure that their display created.  
Sparks clashed in the air, creating an impressive visual spectacle as red and blue met in large waves and precise slices - power emanating from their swords where their chi flowed, unhindered. 

The fight was fast and looked lethal to onlookers (the Gaang wouldn’t put it past them for the siblings to fight each other to the death just because they were bored so it seemed highly likely that this battle was just as dangerous as the one by the canon a few weeks ago). Their attacks and defences showed all the signs of extensive experience and expertise and was a sight to behold.

It ended eventually with Azula knocking her brother over, though it was fairly close, and they received a round of applause from the small audience by the treeline. 

“I must say that that is remarkable bending, my niece and nephew,” Iroh smiled.

“Oh! You need to see Azula’s technique,” Zuko said proudly.

Azula shrugged and brandished her sword, sheathing it with lightning much to the awe of the others.

“How did you discover these techniques?” Iroh asked with curiosity.

“Err…”

“Well you see…”

“It was when something happened…”

“And then we discovered it…”

“What? I didn’t understand a word of that,” Sokka said.

“I think it's embarrassing,” Toph cackled. “Their heart rates are going so fast that they may have a stroke.”

“The fire thing was when I had a little… moment and I got very frustrated and it just burst out.”

“I also had a… moment and the lightning… happened.”

“Right…” Toph said, unconvinced.

It was just then that Ty Lee cartwheeled over exuberantly and leapt up to join them with Mai trailing close behind.

“What are we talking about?” Ty Lee asked with her usual happiness.

“How Zuko and Azula invented the sword fire lightning thingy,” Aang said.

Mai snorted with mirth while Ty Lee at least tried to hide her laughter, “Oh yeah, they don’t like talking about that. It would have been hilarious had it not been quite distressing."

"What?" Sokka asked again.

"Never mind that," Azula said frustrated, "Does anyone want to spar?"

***

“Hey, Azula! Want to spar? No firebending, okay?” Sokka called. Azula immediately jumped up.

“Of course.” she said with a grin, pulling out her shin gunto. 

“Can I take back my offer?” Sokka asked.

“Nope.” she laughed. 

Sokka pulled out his sword. “Okay. Ready?”

“Yeah.” And they started. 

Azula was very quick to win, naturally, and the fight ended with Sokka on the ground, the end of Azula’s sword pointed at his face. 

“I win!” she chirped, holding out a hand to help him up. 

“Spirits, you’re good. Will you teach me?” he asked. Azula shrugged. 

“I will if you teach me how to use the boomerang.” she said. 

“Don’t you mean boomer-aang? Get it?” he said. Azula just stared at him. “I’m wasted on you, aren’t I? But yeah, of course I’ll teach you.”

“Thanks, Sokka.”

***

“Azula?” Toph asked one day, “So you know how I’m a metal bender.” Azula nodded. “And you can lightning bend and meta can-”

“Can conduct electricity,” Azula finished. “I like your thinking, Earth Gremlin.

Two hours later, Zuko and Sokka were strolling around the camp together when they heard a large cackle and almost maniacal laughter coming from the tree line.

“Oh no,” they both said and raced into the woods.

They found a flaming mess and Toph chucking metal into the air, Azula blasting it with lightning, and then Toph took control again, firing it at a make-shift target that they had set up.

“I vote we just back away slowly before we die,” Sokka whispered.

“Yep!” Zuko squeaked.

***

Azula was struggling. Her legs felt as though they were on fire and sudden pains jumped around her body as if they were taunting her for her weakness. Any normal person would have relaxed as much as possible when they were in agony. Not Azula, however. 

She was moody all morning and even snapped at Ty Lee - something she didn’t normally do. Zuko was suspicious and probably knew what was going on but Azula had been trained from birth to hide weakness so she proceeded as if it were any other day.

This was a bad idea. 

They were training all together (The Spirits and the Gaang) with Iroh and Hakoda supervising when the pain went from agony to unbearable. She swore loudly as her legs crumpled and Zuko ran to catch her head before she knocked herself unconscious.

“What did I say last time this happened, Az? Always tell someone. You’re going to get yourself hurt.”

“It already fucking hurts,” she snapped.

“Leave her alone, Zuko. We just need to get her to the tent and shove like six ice packs on her and she’ll be fine by the weekend. Hopefully,” Mai said, “She’s too stubborn to listen to you, anyway.”

“I’m sorry, Az. It’s just that I’m worried about you.”

“Yeah, I know, Zu,” she said with a pained smile. Zuko could feel her body tense, then relax slightly as the waves of pain crashed against her.

“Umm, what’s happening?” Aang reached the group first, followed by Toph, Katara and Sokka. Iroh and Hakoda appeared a second later, worry etched into their faces.

“It’s nothing,” Azula gasped out.

“That’s a big fat lie,” Toph retorted as Mai and Zuko snorted at Azula’s bravado.

“It’s pain that comes from time to time because of the lightning,” Ty Lee explained, “She’ll be fine in a couple of days.”

“She just refuses to tell anyone about it because she’s a stubborn bitch,” Mai said pointedly.

“Oi!” Azula protested.

“It’s true, even Ty Lee agrees.”

“Yep, you know it deep down, Azula,” Ty Lee said, nodding.

“You’re both traitors,” Azula huffed but with a small smile on her face as Zuko and Mai helped stand, practically holding her up as her legs started to buckle under the overpowering pain.

***


	10. *Off-key kazoo*

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> (To the tune of The Final Countdown): it's a mental breakdown.  
> *Off-key kazoo*

“Hey, where’s Zuko?” Sokka asked. Azula glanced up. 

“Shit, I thought he was with you?” she said. 

Sokka shook his head. “Is this bad? You’re making it sound like it’s bad.” he said. 

Azula jumped up to her feet and grabbed Sokka’s arm, running into the woods. “He was in a bad mood this morning. We may have an issue.” she explained vaguely. 

“What sort of...oh crap what’s going on?” Zuko was under the tree again, shaking, crying and sobbing. The two bent down to his level. 

“Just follow my lead, Boomerang Boy.” Azula whispered sharply. She turned back to Zuko. “Zuko, it’s okay. It’s Azula. You’re at the war camp. You’re here in the woods with Sokka and I. Everything’s okay. He’s not here, it's just us.”

“Yeah, Zuko. We’re safe here.” Sokka said. Zuko looked up slightly, and Sokka saw the tears filling up his golden eyes. 

“Hug him Sokka.” Azula ordered, wrapping her arms around her brother. 

“Wait what? No, I don’t…”

“Just do it, dummy, it makes him feel safe.” she hissed. Sokka complied, being slightly terrified of Azula, and soon, Zuko stopped shaking. “Hey there.” Azula said. 

“Hey.” he said, his voice raspy. He looked around and realised that it had been Sokka hugging him. He went bright red, something Sokka thought was slightly adorable.   
“Sorry.”

“It’s fine. You don’t have anything to apologise for.” Sokka said. They both smiled at each other. 

***

Toph could feel a heartbeat racing like a galloping ostrich horse. Oh spirits. She followed it to a tree and could make out Azula’s body curled up beneath it.

“What… what’s wrong?” she asked. There wasn’t a reply - just fast breathing. “Err...what the hell am I doing?” Silence “Do I...I don’t understand what I’m doing. Help me out here. Do I hug you?”

“Ew, what? No!” Azula finally replied, her voice raspy and coming out in gasps. 

“Sokka said you hugged Zuko when he was crying. Don’t I do the same?” Toph asked. 

“Do I look like a huggy person to you? And I’m fine. What makes you think otherwise?” Azula gasped.

“I can tell when you’re lying.” Toph deadpanned. “Soooooo….want to talk about it?”

“Nope.”

“Oh thank the spirits. I’ll go and get Zuko now.”

“No, just stay and talk about rocks or something,” Azula managed to croak out quickly.

“Alright,” Toph shrugged and began a tale about how she first learned to earthbend with the giant Badgermoles.

***

Zuko felt sick as he leaned over the edge of Appa.

“Zuko?” Azula asked. 

“If I open my mouth for more than 10 seconds, I will vomit up everything so please, please just don’t talk to me.” Zuko said quickly. The feeling of wanting to puke may have been from travel sickness or being punched in the stomach multiple times in the mission preceding the trip on Appa, and Zuko didn’t know which one. 

“No, it’s fine. We’re passing by Ember Island and we can stay for a bit. It’s almost dark and Appa needs to rest anyway,” Azula said. Zuko felt too queasy to care. 

Zuko felt very uncomfortable as he sat in a chair in the middle of one of the rooms in the beach house while everyone else looked around the place like spies. Maybe this wasn’t such a great idea.

“I don’t like this. I don’t like this. I don’t like this.” Zuko muttered. 

Mai sighed. “Yes, you’ve said that. But I agree, this is very uncomfortable.”

“FUCK SHIT FUCK!” Everyone jumped as they heard Azula’s shout from one of the rooms down the hall, accompanied with a few loud bangs.

Zuko leapt up and hurried down the hall, everyone else following behind. He stopped short when he saw which room the shouting was coming from. It was Lu Ten’s room. “Oh shit, he muttered before flinging the door open. He saw Azula staring at the wall blankly, holding a book in one shaking hand with the other one at her side, painted with blood and splinters. There was a large dent in the wall beside her. Well that explains the noise.

“Az?”

Azula looked up with an emotion in her eyes that Zuko couldn’t explain and simply thrusted the book at her brother. Zuko took the leather-bound book from Azula’s trembling hand and looked at it properly. Then regretted it instantly. It was Lu Ten’s diary. 

“What’s going on?” Toph asked from the doorway.

“Yeah, I’m also very confused and concerned.” Sokka said. 

Zuko and Azula felt hands on their shoulders: Mai and Ty Lee had come into the room and were trying to comfort them, realising the person behind Azula’s outburst.

“Read that page Zuko. Just… read it,” Azula whispered, her voice cracking.

_When I come back from Ba Sing Se I’m going to leave the palace and disappear - I don’t want to go to war but I want to make Dad proud. At least once.  
After I return from Ba Sing Se, I’ll take Azula and Zuko with me because I can’t - under any circumstances - leave them there. I want them to be happy and I see their fear everytime Uncle Ozai walks past and the sadness in Little Spitfire’s eyes whenever she sees Aunt Ursa. I see the scars on Azula’s arms, the black eyes, the split lips and the burns, and I see the cuts and scratches and bruises on Zuko and I just know it was Ozai.  
Zuko has got his Mother and his Uncle but the only person my Little Spitfire’s got, apart from Zuko, is me and I can’t fail her like every other adult in her life is even though I’m barely twenty.   
I’m going to take them somewhere nobody will find us. I just want to be happy. I just want them to be happy. I’m going to save them. ___

__

__“Oh no. No, no, NO!” he shouted, startling everybody except Azula who had fully expected this reaction. “It’s not fair! Why is Agni determined to make sure that every good thing in our lives is ripped away from us?” In a rage, he flung the book across the room where it hit the wall with an anticlimactic thump._ _

__“I don’t want to interrupt but what’s happening?” Aang questioned, his big eyes gazing at the siblings with concern._ _

__“Ty Lee, do you want to stay here with them and make sure they’re okay, and I’ll take everyone else down to the beach,” Mai suggested beckoning everybody out of the room._ _

__

__Mai was in the lead as they all traipsed down to the shore, refusing to answer any of the questioning looks thrown her way. They eventually reached a small sheltered corner where Mai finally sat down and looked at everyone else, waiting for them to do the same._ _

__“What happened back there?” Katara asked with concern after a moment of silence._ _

__“I have no idea, to be perfectly honest, but it will have something to do with Lu Ten which is never good.”_ _

__“Who’s Lu Ten again?” Aang questioned, the name ringing a bell._ _

__“He was Iroh’s son but he died during the Siege of Ba Sing Se - do you remember when I shouted at Iroh after the battle at the canyon?” Everyone nodded their heads. “Well Iroh hasn’t always been the lovely wholesome guy he is now - he only started to question whether the war was worth fighting after Lu Ten died. And Lu Ten… well he was really close to Zuko and Azula and it really hit them hard when he died - especially as their Mum assassinated their grandfather and disappeared - most likely assassinated by Ozai - right after.” Mai said this all very casually, her tone not fitting the absolute bombshell she had just dropped._ _

__“Wait what? I don’t think I heard you right,” Sokka said, disbelievingly._ _

__“I really know the exact details because Azula and Zuko don't talk about it, but I think Ursa - their mum - made some kind of deal with Ozai and murdered Firelord Azulon but then she vanished right after and Ozai probably murdered her because she was a threat. I think Azula's th eonly one who actually undertands what happened. It was a fun year,” Mai finished her explanation with a bitter laugh._ _

__“You know, the more I learn about their family, the more I want to murder the Firelord,” Toph said._ _

__

__Back in the house, Ty Lee had mostly calmed the siblings down, at least enough so there wasn’t anymore property destruction. She had looked at the diary and felt a pang of sympathy for her friends stab at her heart. They really had been given the short end of the stick by Agni in life. Ty Lee sighed and brought the two glasses of water she had gone to fetch back into the room where Zuko and Azula were sitting in varying states of emotional distress._ _

__Zuko was attempting to smother strangled sobs and Ty Lee handed him his glass of water to try and get him to focus on the task of drinking instead of whatever rampant thoughts were running through his head._ _

__Azula was harder to get hold of, however. Azula’s mind was spiralling - just like it did when she first found out Lu Ten had died. Lu Ten would never be able to help them. He wouldn’t come back. He was gone forever._ _

__Ty Lee had to try several times to get her attention. “Are you okay?” Ty Lee asked gently once Azula looked like she knew where she was._ _

__“Yep.” she said shortly._ _

__“You’re not, are you?” Ty Lee said. Azula looked at Ty Lee and a single tear rolled down her face. Ty Lee hurriedly pulled Azula into a hug and Azula blushed pink._ _

__“Thanks, Ty.”_ _

__“It’s alright Zula. Now how about we go and see Katara to get that hand sorted because I think you're bleeding on me?”_ _

__

__***_ _

__

__They were about to set off on Appa again when Azula suddenly had a thought. “Zu, come with me.”_ _

__Zuko complied, after giving his sister an exasperated look, and followed her to the upstairs of the house. Azula stopped without any warning at the end of the corridor and Zuko immediately knew why. On the wall was a giant portrait of their family, painted when Zuko was about 8 and Azula about 6. Even in the painting you could see the tense atmosphere created by their family - Ozai’s stern eyes, Zuko’s scared face, Ursa’s strained eyes and Azula’s guarded stance._ _

__The siblings looked at each other and Zuko knew what Azula was thinking. They grabbed the portrait simultaneously and took it down from the wall before running outside down to the beach. They sprinted past the others, ignoring their curious looks and calls until they were half-way down the beach. Azula lit a blue flame but released her chi, easing it into a less harsh, orange colour. Zuko and Azula looked at each other before chucking the painting onto the flames as one. They gazed on with sad smiles as the flames consumed Ozai’s face first, then Azula’s, then Zuko’s, before it finally ravaged Ursa’s strained smile._ _

__They returned to the others like nothing had happened, ignoring everyone’s worried glances, and returned back to the camp on Appa._ _

__

__***_ _

__

__It was Lu Ten’s birthday. Zuko held Azula’s hand tightly as Iroh knelt down in front of the tree. He pulled the basket open and placed the items inside down neatly with trembling hands. Zuko coughed to stifle a sob. He and Azula sat down cross legged next to Iroh. Their uncle swallowed thickly._ _

__“Leaves from the vine  
Falling so slow  
Like fragile tiny shells  
Drifting in the foam.” Iroh’s voice cracked and he started crying. He couldn’t finish the song. Zuko and Azula took over._ _

__“Little soldier boy  
Come marching home  
Brave soldier boy  
Comes marching home.” Silent tears streamed down Zuko’s cheeks and he buried his head in his hands. Azula wrapped her arms around him. And they sat in silence. _ _

___When I come back from Ba Sing Se I’m going to leave the palace and disappear - I don’t want to go to war but I’ll have to this time. I’ll take Azula and Zuko with me because I can’t - under any circumstances - leave them there._ _ _

____Zuko squeezed his eyes shut as the words Lu Ten had written swum in his mind._ _ _ _

_____I want them to be happy and I see their fear every time Uncle Ozai walks past and the sadness in Little Spitfire’s eyes whenever she sees Aunt Ursa. I see the scars on Azula’s arms, the black eyes and the bruises and I see the cuts and scratches and split lip on Zuko and I just know it was Ozai. I’m going to save them._ _ _ _ _

______Lu Ten was gone. And he was never coming back to save them._ _ _ _ _ _

______ _ _ _ _

______***_ _ _ _ _ _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one took a little longer than usual to come out and it will be like this for a couple of weeks because I've got Mocks on at the moment.


	11. Ozai the Bitchlord's Downfall

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, first things first, I am sorry this took so long to come out - I had a ton of work to do (and a lot of stress) and it wasn't really at the forefront of my mind to be honest.
> 
> I'm not sure how good this final chapter is but I am going to write some follow-up one-shots which will probably be better so look out for those. You will like them especially if you like fluff rather than heavy plot.

The day of their invasion soon arrived and they had decided to send Aang, Sokka, Toph, Azula and Zuko to defeat the Firelord and his personal guard while the rest of the army went to battle with the Fire Nation army who were about to invade the Earth Kingdom.

Aang had turned up eventually after disappearing, making everyone panic, but had returned with new-found confidence that they didn’t have time to question before diving into battle.

Azula, Zuko, Sokka and Toph were able to defeat the personal guard without too much trouble. Sokka’s long distance boomerang skills distracted lots of them while Zuko’s fire sword caused panic and Toph and Azula wreaked havoc with flaming boulders and electrically charged scraps of metal. There was only a possible fracture in Sokka’s leg, a fairly deep gash in Zuko’s arm and a few scratches on everyone so now all they could do was wait. It was Aang’s battle.

They stood on the hill nearby, the sky painted blood red, bathing the ground in crimson, watching as Aang flew around, throwing flames, air that knocked the firelord of his feet, chunks of rock bigger than an entire mountain and shards of ice like blades. It was a weird scene for Azula and Zuko to watch; a very close friend fighting to the death with their father. Zuko felt slightly sick. He knew that Ozai’s chances of winning the fight were slim, but the idea of the avatar dying when the kid was only 12 (well, technically 112, but we don’t count that) made him feel like vomiting. 

“You okay, Zuzu?” Azula asked. Zuko looked up and nodded. 

“Twinkletoes is bloody crushing that dude.” Toph exclaimed. “Hell yeah.”

“I mean, he is basically God. It’d be hard not to.” Sokka chimed in. “We’ve established that Ozai isn’t the smartest guy in the world.”

“Yeah, he’s an idiot alright.”

There was a flash of blue as Aang and Ozai’s eyes started to glow. “What… What’s happening?” Sokka asked as red energy seeped out, almost swallowing the blue light.

“It looks like Ozai’s winning,” Azula said, with the most panic in her voice that Sokka had ever heard.

“The red could be Aang,” Zuko suggested.

“So you’re saying that the evil firelord has heavenly blue light as his colour while Aang has red?”

“What the fuck are you dipshits on about?” Toph piped up from beside them.

And then it was all over, Aang flying down with Ozai tied up and feeling like he needed a long nap. 

“Great job,” Azula said. “But I’m still slightly put out that you didn’t kill him. I admire your pacifism - you found a way to defeat the bitchlord without compromising your morals - but don’t you just get the urge to stick a knife between his ribs?”

“No, because we don’t kill people, Azula,” Aang scolded, though he smiled because he recognised that Azula was trying to tell him that she was proud of him and did the right thing but in her own very unique way.

“Azula?” croaked the tied up firelord on his knees by Aang’s feet. Azula looked at Zuko and nodded. They pulled off their masks simultaneously and dropped them to the floor. 

“Hey there, dad! Fancy seeing you here.” Azula sneered, before kicking her father as hard as she could in the crotch. 

Zuko smirked as Ozai doubled over in pain. “At last, vindication,” he commented before taking his shot as well.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you want to get hold of me, have any suggestions or just want to chat, my discord is GlaucusPacificus#5321 and my tumblr is @glaucuspacificus.
> 
> Thank you so much for reading!


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